The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has announced that four Ursuline College women’s cross country runners have been named 2009 Daktronics-NAIA Women’s Cross Country Scholar-Athletes. Juniors Erica Casto (Madison, Ohio), Erin Childers (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio), Jessica Dingman (Burton, Ohio) and Allison Wainio (Madison, Ohio) were all named Scholar-Athletes for the first time, and there are the first four selections for the cross country program at Ursuline, which began competing in 2004.

The announcement was made one day prior to the Men’s and Women’s Cross Country National Championships, which will be held at Fort Vancouver Historical Site in Vancouver, Washington. Dingman will be representing Ursuline College, as she will compete in the women’s race after qualifying as an individual runner with her solid performances over the season.

Nominated by each institution’s head coach, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and have achieved junior academic status to qualify.